We’re big fans of gaming for good, like the makers of word puzzle game Prose & Codes donating a portion of sales to Project Gutenberg. Now there’s another indie title releasing with “giving back” ambitions.

Out March 15 for PC (and Mac) is Harlow is a 2.5D physics-based platformer from developer Good Trouble and publisher Rogue Games. The wholesome sci-fi game itself has a hopeful message at its core, with a little robot called Harlow trying to stockpile supplies on a harsh and dangerous world, so she can throw a surprise party for cryogenically frozen human colonists stranded on the planet. Beset with obstacles, and kinda responsible for the humans’ situation, Harlow just wants to do her best, overcoming her hardships little by little every day.  

Good Trouble founder Arman Nobari faced his own struggles, including repeat battles with cancer, and the loss of a parent during his lengthy, spirit-bashing recovery. Nobari found solace in game development, and Harlow is the result.

Good Trouble is playing Harlow’s good vibes forward, with 0.5% of profit generated from the game being earmarked for Cancer for College, an organization that helped Nobari attend college through scholarship funding. A further 0.5% of Harlow profit will go to Black Girls Code. 

Rogue Games is also coming to the party, so to speak, with free copies of Harlow going to every Redditor who commented positively on Nobari’s initial post on the project – bumping it up the Subreddit and bringing Harlow to the publisher’s attention. 

Featuring full controller support, Harlow is described as “easy to play and challenging to master,” and the game certainly looks it. Its colourful, chilled experience is reinforced by a lo-fi score from Obfusc, who has previously composed music for games like Monument Valley. Meanwhile, encouraging replayability, there are multiple endings to unlock, depending on the party Harlow ends up staging.

Harlow is available to wishlist on Steam now. In addition to its PC release on Tuesday, March 15, the game is also coming to Nintendo Switch later in 2022.